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Booster Shots, the Los Angeles Times’ health blog, yesterday pointed out that while the current prostate cancer screening technology — the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test — has lead to an increase in diagnoses and surgical interventions, it has not decreased the cancer mortality rate.

It looks like Quiky the Bunny — Nestle’s Nesquik mascot — may soon be forced into early retirement as public schools across the nation consider banning fat-free chocolate milk from lunchroom cafeterias due to its high sugar content. Schools in the District of Columbia and Berkley, Calif. have already enacted bans, but some nutritionists are critical, arguing flavoring is crucial to get kids to drink milk, which contains essential nutrients including calcium and vitamin D.

A recent HealthDay News headlined “Nicotine Can Fuel Breast Cancer, Study Suggests” may needlessly scare readers into wrongfully assuming breast cancer may be caused by smoking. The study, which analyzed 276 breast tumor samples in vitro for a specific nicotine receptor subunit (a9-nAChR), found an over-production of the subunit in advanced-stage breast cancer compared to early-stage cancer.

A review of six studies involving 220,000 men and women found that those who consume one and a half extra servings of green leafy vegetables per day reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus by 14 percent. The researchers believe that the antioxidants and magnesium found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach are responsible for the diabetes risk reduction.

With public hearings on AquaBounty Technologies’ quick-growing genetically modified salmon scheduled for September 19th, the FDA concluded Friday the fish is safe for the environment and consumers.

For seniors addicted to smoking — whether they got that way from a YouTube video or not — Medicare is expanding its coverage to include tobacco-cessation counseling for those who haven’t been diagnosed with a tobacco-related disease, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

Even though alcohol has been denied to the 33 miners trapped underground for over a month in a mine near Chile, their request for cigarettes was finally granted, and the miners will now share a ration of two packs per day. Though they were provided with nicotine patches and gum previously, the miners said it did little to alleviate their tobacco cravings.
“Well then why don’t we send them smokeless tobacco or clean nicotine such as e-cigs?” wonders ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.

It’s enough to give you heartburn. San Francisco legislators — apparently having solved all of the city’s other problems — have decided to target Happy Meals. The Board of Supervisors is debating a proposal to ban toys from the entrées — unless the meal includes a half a cup of fresh fruit or three quarters of a cup of fresh vegetables, and doesn’t contain more than 600 calories.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg will honor former FDA official Frances Kelsey, MD, PhD, with the first annual Kelsey Award tomorrow the 50th anniversary of Kelsey s refusal to authorize the marketing of thalidomide in the U.S. to pregnant women for the relief of morning-sickness.

The FDA today began re-re-reevaluating AAtrex, Syngenta Crop Protection s brand name for the 50-year-old herbicide atrazine, which opponents allege is a potential carcinogen and endocrine disrupter.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended that the allowable concentration of atrazine in water be increased to 100 parts per billion, up from its previous two parts per billion standard.

BPA is in the news, yet again. WPFO-TV (Fox 23) reports that Maine s Board of Environmental Protection has postponed plans to ban BPA from baby products until studies prove that the alternatives are safe.

Following a split vote by an FDA advisory panel in July on whether Avandia was safe to stay on the market after evidence surfaced implicating the diabetes drug with an increased risk of heart attack, the FDA announced yesterday that it will place stringent restrictions on Avandia’s availability. Patients who wish to continue use of Avandia will have to enroll in a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program along with their doctors and pharmacists.

The front page of Sunday’s New York Times featured a heartbreaking story about two cousins, both suffering from widespread melanoma, a lethal type of skin cancer. Both young men’s melanoma had a specific gene mutation called B-RAF, which is specifically targeted by a new drug being tested by Roche Pharmaceuticals.

The silly season in the fight against obesity is spreading, it seems, from the West coast to the East coast. The latest metropolis to join in the battle against soda is Boston, where city officials are considering a ban on selling sugar-sweetened beverages in government buildings. The anti-soda craze was started by Mayor Gavin Newsom in San Francisco, and now Boston is following suit.

If the thought of abstaining from alcohol for the entire length of pregnancy sounds like a daunting task, moms-to-be can breathe a slight sigh of relief, as a new study from the Journal of Epidemiological and Community Health suggests that having one or two drinks weekly may be safe during pregnancy.

Genetically modified crops benefit both farmers (by reducing the need for purchasing expensive pesticides) and consumers (by providing crops that studies have shown are safer and healthier than conventional food, as well as cheaper, given the economic benefits to farmers).

As much as we will it to be, science is often not a simple case of black or white, a point reporter Anthony DePalma makes in a Huffington Post article describing the complexity of measuring 9/11 health effects. Mr. DePalma points out that while there is much known about the World Trade Center dust composition, the knowledge surrounding its health impact is limited; therefore, such legislation as the James Zadroga bill, which aims to reopen the Sept.

Severe acne is more likely to cause suicide and depression in young people, not the drug Accutane often used to treat it, a new study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology finds.

A new study suggests that most men do not need frequent prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests to screen for prostate cancer after they turn 60, the age at which PSA levels can predict one’s risk of dying from the disease.

File under, you reap what you sow : Caving to the complaints of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), Ben & Jerry s has decided to remove the all-natural label from its ice cream.

In her role in the 1997 movie The Beautician and the Beast, actress Fran Drescher plays a New York cosmetologist who is mistakenly thought to be a science teacher. It seems that life imitates art, as Ms. Drescher is embarking on a “scientific” crusade by lending her name to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, an activist organization dedicated to scaring the public about the so-called carcinogens they’ll find in cosmetic products.

The headline of an article in Aquatics International reads “Highly publicized studies link cancer, DBP’s,” which kindly stated, is much ado about nothing. Based upon three studies, researchers found that disinfection by-products (DBPs) — certain byproducts of chlorine sanitizers used in swimming pools — may correlate with respiratory problems and bladder cancer.

When a patient experiences a stroke, time is of the essence in order to qualify for the most effective treatment — but often stroke victims are unable to determine or communicate when their stroke started. MRI scans could be useful in those cases, according to a study published online Tuesday in the journal Radiology.